Evaluating the General Technology Acceptance Model (GTAM) in the Education Context: An Analysis of AI-based Chatbot Acceptance Among Schoolchildren

The rapid development of AI technologies, in particular generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, is changing education, especially in the areas of teaching, learning, and career planning. As these technologies become more widespread, questions of acceptance among schoolchildren are becoming increasingly important. To address this issue, the generic General Technology Acceptance Model (GTAM) was evaluated to measure the acceptance of AI-based technologies in education. The GTAM combines elements of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Hierarchical Attitude Models (HAM) to assess both general attitudes and specific beliefs regarding AI. In two studies, the model showed good validity, reliability and predictive quality, with an explained variance of 52.22 % in study 1 and 58.83 % in study 2 for usage intention. The results suggest that GTAM is a practical and costeffective method for evaluating the acceptance of AI technologies in educational contexts and provides developers with a reliable approach for efficiently evaluating AI applications.